Abstract
- Jaguars (Panthera onca ) are the largest felids in America, a
species mainly threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation, hunting,
loss of prey density, and illegal trafficking. Jaguars are mainly
nocturnal predators that need large portions of suitable habitat with
abundant prey populations. The aim of this work was to assess both
jaguar and prey activity patterns, their relations and to understand
if the presence/absence of prey and their activity patterns might
determine the movements of jaguars in a spatio-temporal frame.
- Movement ecology allows us to study details of activity patterns and
predator-prey dynamics. We used data from camera trapping records of
125 jaguar events of presence from 9,360 camera trap days effort and
data from five jaguars with GPS collars, to analyze: 1) Temporal
activity patterns; 2) Average speed movement; 3) Average of traveled
distances and 4) Co-occurrence analysis for jaguars and preys.
Differences between sexes and between seasons were also evaluated. A
total of 12,566 segments of movement were recorded.
- Two activity peaks were identified between 07:00-08:00 and 22:00-23:00
hours. Average traveled distance was 265.66 m/h (± 390.98 m/h). The
maximum hourly distance was 2,760.25 m/h; with significant differences
considering the hour of day (χ2 = 324.51, df 11, p < 0.001),
with higher mean values between 00:00 and 08:00 h. The average
distance covered by males was higher than females (Z –24.827,
p < 0.001): 341.64 ± 440.03 m/h and 146.31 ± 259.04 m/h
respectively. Significant differences considering seasons were found
(Z = –16.442, p < 0.001): average distance during the dry
season was 230.35 ± 365.87 m/h and was higher during the rainy season:
337.082 ± 430.45 m/h. Differences according to season were also
consistent considering males and females separately (males:
Z = –6.212, p < 0.001; females: Z = –15.801,
p < 0.001). Occupation model analysis revealed that two of
the five pairs of species (P. onca and P. tajacu andP. onca and C. paca ) occur with more frequency than if
they were independent, while in terms of co-detection, P. oncaand P. tajacu and P. onca and C. paca showed
independence.
- Our study provides valuable details about jaguar movement ecology and
their space-time dynamics, as well as their interactions with prey
species.